NGD... Harley Benton CLP-15ME SolidWood

SlopeSoarer

I'd been fancying a parlour guitar for a while and the Harley Benton CLP-15ME SolidWood looked just the job. I'd hummed and hawed about it for a long time (there aren't many reviews out there)... over 12 months but decided to take the plunge. Nothing to lose really £259 with 30 day return policy.

Well I'm pretty much gob smacked. It is flawless, absolutely flawless, very comfortable/tacile in the hand and sounds great, whilst it is okoume rather than mahogany it does give me a very different flavour to my spruce topped guitars. I did expect it to be boxy sounding, I have a Faith Nomad Mini Saturn which is boxy when you first pick it up after playing other sizes, but I've not got that from this.

It is a very welcome addition and definitely doesn disgrace itself at all, in fact I'm quite smitten. Well done Thomann.

A few pictures:
Front
Front
Back
Back
Side
Other Side
Headstock
Headstock Back
Fretboard
Neck Join
Bridge
Label
Bits
Acoustic Family

Edit: 3 weeks on and still love it my only very minor gripe is I wish it was open pore finish, it almost looks a bit too perfect a finish (although very thin finish), most people wouldn't have that complaint!

Dave_Mc

Excellent! That looks awesome, really good pics too.

SlopeSoarer said:

I'd been fancying a parlour guitar for a while and the Harley Benton CLP-15ME SolidWood looked just the job. I'd hummed and hawed about it for a long time (there aren't many reviews out there)... over 12 months but decided to take the plunge. Nothing to lose really £259 with 30 day return policy.

Same here! Except I still haven't. I'm possibly a bit closer now since I've tried their electric guitars now, though. Your excellent pics aren't helping!

Obviously I haven't tried it, but from what I remember from listening to video clips of it it didn't sound as boxy as a lot of the smaller acoustics, either. If it doesn't sound boxy, that's a big plus in my book. I've said before on here, but I really wanted to love the Faith Mercury (I really like Faiths, I see you have a couple, my sister has one and it's lovely) but I just couldn't get on with its really middy/honky tone.

earwighoney

Nice.

I thought of getting one myself.  I've never owned a mahogany top acoustic guitar. 

What's the string spacing like?  It is on the narrow side of things? 

SlopeSoarer

It's got a 45mm nut, spacing is decent.

thomasross20

Spacing on my P-03 narrows toward the bridge. There's a technical reason for it which I can't remember. 

What's the scale length? 
12 fret and lower bridge placement is great - that's a great buy. I LOVE parlour guitars. They are very more-ish - you just do not want to stop playing them.

earwighoney

SlopeSoarer said:

It's got a 45mm nut, spacing is decent.

If you've got time and a ruler, I'd be interested to find out what the string spacing is at the bridge.

SlopeSoarer

Will get back to you, it'll be later tomorrow... got a busy day.

guitarjack66

I have a Cort Parlour that I paid 150 quid for and is very good. 45mm nut width too so good for fingerpicking and ok for strumming too.

earwighoney

SlopeSoarer said:

Will get back to you, it'll be later tomorrow... got a busy day.

Yes, please do if you can! I would most appreciative if you could provide a measurement for the spacing at the saddle.

Also. I have heard these solid wood HB's are quite light, they are supposed to be enjoyable guitars to play.

SlopeSoarer

Job done earlier my wife missed her connection flight, so not the same rush out that I expected!

Nut:width: 45mm
Saddle spacing: 55mm (centre to centre of strings)
Scale length: 628mm
Weight: 3lb 12oz (with battery)

earwighoney

SlopeSoarer said:

Job done earlier my wife missed her connection flight, so not the same rush out that I expected!

Nut:width: 45mm
Saddle spacing: 55mm (centre to centre of strings)
Scale length: 628mm
Weight: 3lb 12oz (with battery)

Wow, thanks @SlopeSoarer.

IMO 55mm or so is a good string spacing at the saddle.  I once had a Yamaha acoustic with 50mm string spacing at the saddle, which was near enough impossible to fingerpick without getting cramps in the picking hand!

It seems to be quite a lightly built guitar too, quite surprising considering it's price tag.

I hope you enjoy playing your new guitar. 

Amigo

What's the neck thickness like? And is it deeper bodied than standard parlour?

SlopeSoarer

Neck thickness 1st fret 22.4mm, 12th fret 24.3mm, C shape. Back is curved, Upper bout thickness 94mm Lower bout thickness 97mm, not sure what a standard parlour body thickness is!? Hope it helps anyway.

Amigo

Much obliged, sir!

DavidR

Looks like amazing value. Congrats.

Particularly like the Martinoid fretboard inlays and the open headstock.

Okoume is quite a lot softer than mahogany but is a perfectly acceptable tonewood; as witnessed by the fact that you really like the tone of this Harley Benton! I love makers brave enough to break free from the Spruce/Mahogany/Ebony/Rosewood quartet. There's thousands of sustainable woods out there which are perfectly suitable for stringed instruments. About time more people used them and buyers moved away from demanding them.

One has to ask again; why in 2023 are we still paying £3-4K for guitars? So much fun at low/mid price point.

Tannin

DavidR said:

One has to ask again; why in 2023 are we still paying £3-4K for guitars?

Because we can.

Hey, in 10 or 20 or 30 years they'll be sticking me in a wooden box and putting me to sleep with a shovel. Why not have some fun along the way?

Tannin

Interesting! Okoume is a completely new timber to me, I've heard the name once or twice, never looked into it.

It turns out to be very unusual - a hardwood which weighs about as much as a light softwood and isn't much harder than cedar! 

Compared to Sitka Spruce, its weight is the same, hardness 80%, elasticity (stiffness, more-or-less) 75%,  rupture (strength, approximately) 107%, and crushing strength 95%. Interesting properties!

It is not at all like mahogany - it is 25% lighter and much softer (roughly half as hard).

In short, it probably won't sound remotely like mahogany, and in a small parlour guitar, that is entirely a good thing! 

One thing to watch: if the numbers in the Wood Database are to be trusted (and they are usually pretty good) it will be very easily damaged. No binding and timber softer than spruce = be very careful with it!

And enjoy!

SlopeSoarer

Tannin said:

DavidR said:

One has to ask again; why in 2023 are we still paying £3-4K for guitars?

Because we can.

Hey, in 10 or 20 or 30 years they'll be sticking me in a wooden box and putting me to sleep with a shovel. Why not have some fun along the way?

£3-4k for a guitar... my wife would be ptting me to sleep with that shovel! :-)

Tannin said:

Interesting! Okoume is a completely new timber to me, I've heard the name once or twice, never looked into it.

It turns out to be very unusual - a hardwood which weighs about as much as a light softwood and isn't much harder than cedar! 

Compared to Sitka Spruce, its weight is the same, hardness 80%, elasticity (stiffness, more-or-less) 75%,  rupture (strength, approximately) 107%, and crushing strength 95%. Interesting properties!

It is not at all like mahogany - it is 25% lighter and much softer (roughly half as hard).

In short, it probably won't sound remotely like mahogany, and in a small parlour guitar, that is entirely a good thing! 

One thing to watch: if the numbers in the Wood Database are to be trusted (and they are usually pretty good) it will be very easily damaged. No binding and timber softer than spruce = be very careful with it!

And enjoy!

Interesting info there @Tannin and I've just been reviewing the wood-database (.com... if it is the same one) and for a nerd like me it is quite interesting!

Regarding the damage, I'm always careful (as can be) but in real terms it will be my go anywhere guitar so I'm sure it will pickup some marks along the way but thanks for the advice.

We aren't blessed with many guitar shops in my area and from memory I don't think I've everpicked up an all mahogany guitar before so no comparison as for sound, though this Harley Benton clip does demonstrate the sound very well in my opinion.

Thanks all for the interest.

DiscoStu

Just realised that this is an electro! £259 is nuts. 

menamestom

DiscoStu said:

Just realised that this is an electro! £259 is nuts. 

I know, seems too good to be true.  I'd rather it wasn't an electro personally but hard to argue with the value.

I've been thinking about one of these as an inexpensive fingerpicker.

I don't know anything about Okoume, but assume it's mahogany like in tone?

BigPaulie

That's very tidy indeed. I like the look of the 000 sized CLA 15M with its 43mm nut, but have had my fingers burned with a recent bad experience with Harley Benton and the rigmarole of returning to Thomann and waiting a month for the refund to come through.